Hy-Vee Addresses Credit Card Surcharge

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — Hy-Vee Food Stores[2] assured shoppers that it will not charge a fee if they use a credit card.

“You might have heard or read about new rules that allow merchants to charge customers a fee on credit card transactions as a way to recoup some of the costs associated with accepting this method of payment,” the retailer wrote on its Facebook page Monday. “Hy-Vee has no plans at this time to charge fees for using credit cards in our stores.”

Hy-Vee made the statement in response to a policy change implemented Sunday allowing merchants who accept Visa and MasterCard credit cards to add a service charge to the purchase price. In the past, Visa and MasterCard prohibited merchants from charging the fees. The companies changed their position as part of a settlement of an antitrust suit.

“Historically Visa has not permitted retailer surcharging, but allowing surcharging was a key provision required by merchants to settle longstanding litigation brought by a class of retailers in 2005,” according to a statement from Visa.